Dear St Monica’s families and friends,

Woo hoo it’s Week Seven, Sabbath Week! 

Sabbath Week in schools is often spoken of as the “Week off Homework” and whilst this is an important part of the week is it not the only component. Sabbath Week is a time for families to rest, recuperate and re-energise. I personally look forward to Sabbath Week where there are no meetings, it’s an opportunity to make things a little low key for the week, a time for reflection to leave work that little bit earlier to be able to go for a walk with my family. This week, I even went one step further and didn’t set my alarm in the morning! Allowing our bodies to wake up naturally has proven benefits such as helping your body get off to a relaxing start to a more energised day!

If you do need an alarm though, there are some tips and tricks to help your body wake up without the shock of sudden activity: 

• Try and wake up to music rather than a loud beeping sound
• Don’t get up straight away. Breathe deeply, loosen and stretch out your arms and legs from your fingers to your toes
• Think of a positive thing that you will be doing that day
• If you can, step outside for a minute. Sunshine is one of the best ways to tell your body to wake up
• Make sure you eat breakfast! Foods that are low in fat and high in protein will provide energy that lasts a long time.

The other thing you can try is to go on a Sabbath Walk. A Sabbath walk is a walk without any purpose. For a period of time walk slowly – preferably outside in nature – without trying to get anywhere. Let your senses guide your walk; allow yourself to smell, touch or thoroughly observe whatever is available to you. Do not hurry, as there is no place to go. Take your time.  (Taken from Sabbath Rest: Restoring the sacred rhythm of rest. Wayne Muller)

I always feel refreshed during and after Sabbath week as it allows me to catch up on bits and pieces and think about slowing down a little. Normally I am so busy rushing around trying to get things done; I sometimes miss out on the wonderful things that are happening around me.

Catholic Schools’ Enrolment period - This week I have started meeting with the children and parents for our 2023 Kindergarten cohort. I am receiving wonderful feedback during these interviews about the Year 6 leaders, who impressively led the school tours, and also about how postively our parent community speaks about our great school! We are now accepting enrolments, in all year levels, for Semester 2 places. If you hear of families who are considering a transition to St Monica's please encourage them to give the school a call and book in a time to have a tour.

Lockdown and Evacuation Procedures – it is a CECG policy for schools to conduct an evacuation and lockdown procedure every term. Yesterday we conducted a Lockdown Drill so that our staff and students are familiar with what to do in the event the school needs to go into lockdown or a lockout. 

Lil MonStars Playgroup – Our inaugural session last Wednesdays saw 11 families join the playgroup and there were 6 families this week. 

Save the Date: Online Booking for Parent/Teacher Interviews - Parent / Teacher interviews will take place from Monday 27 - Wednesday 29 June (week 10) Booking times for these interviews will go live on the Compass Portal next Friday, 17 June. 

Peace and blessings to all,

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week

Vsevolod K, Akol A, Luciarna G, Oliver C, Charile D, Jessica Mc

St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal

Winter is well and truly here and in true Canberra style. Snow has fallen all around us bringing temperatures below 10 degrees during the day and into the minus during the night. How lucky are we – coming home to a warm, heated house, owning various items of clothing so we can ‘layer up’ and keep warm. Sadly, this isn’t the case for many of our neighbours. But, as members of God’s family, we are called to reach out to those in need. One way St Monica’s school community reaches out to those in need is by proudly supporting the Vinnies Winter Appeal, collecting new donations of warm winter clothes and blankets.

The Year 6 Social Justice Team will be visiting classes this Friday to start gathering donations that are brought in. We are hoping to collect the following new items:

• Gloves
• Socks
• Jackets
• Beanies
• Blankets
• Scarves
• Jumpers
• Tracksuit pants
• Sleeping Bags

All your kind donations go directly to people in need in our community or are sold at our local Vinnies Centres to raise funds for other forms of assistance like respite programs and crisis accommodation.

Sacrament of First Eucharist

Last Thursday was our First Eucharist Retreat Day. All of our Year 4 students engaged respectfully to investigate scripture, explore the key symbols from the scripture, pray through art, make bread and commit to an action as a Eucharistic person. We had fun sharing our thoughts and especially in making bread just like Jesus and the apostles would have had to do.

The retreat day was then followed by the Parent/Child formation evening. The candidates from both St Michael’s and St Monica’s shared what they had learned during the retreat day, enjoying breaking bread with their parents.

Please continue to pray for the candidates and their families as they continue to prepare for the Sacrament of First Eucharist next week.

Thank you for your prayers and support this term!

Pupil Free Days

Friday July 1 and Monday 18 July (Term 3) are pupil free days for all St Monica's students. On these days staff will be involved in teacher collaboration, planning and programming and focusing on our wider system Catalyst priorities. SMOOSH will offer out of school care on all of these days. Enrolment for SMOOSH on Friday 1 July and Monday 18 July will be included in the July Vacation Care Enrolment Form, which is in this week's newsletter.

Winter Uniform

Thank you to families for sending their children in the correct uniform each day. Socks are to be plain navy or plain white. Socks with logos are not the correct school uniform. Where possible, it is preferable that navy or maroon coats, jackets, scarves & beanies are worn. A warm jacket is better than none but if it can be in school colours that would be best. On sports days, students are able to wear sneakers / jogger / runners of any colour. On school uniform days, it is an expectation that your child is wearing black shoes.

Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey- closes Friday 17 June

Parents, Teachers and Students in Years 4 - 6 are invited to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process. 

We value the role of parents and carers within our school community, and we would appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership, to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Monica’s Primary School. The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device through URL link that was sent out via Compass. 

Thank you to Deanna Robertson, Esme Rolleston, Katherine O’Sullivan and Tracy D’Ambrosio for your service to the canteen in the last few weeks.  I am so blessed to have so many happy and helpful people in this space.  I would love to have a few more volunteers on Friday, many hands make light work (and a smooth canteen lunch. The link is as follows:  volunteersignup.org/F9Y8K

With winter well and truly upon us we will have the warm milo available to order via Qkr! for recess on Fridays.  Your child will get a ticket to let them know they have a milo and they can come to the canteen window to collect it.  If they have their own “keep cup”, why not bring it along so that we can fill it up for them?  Not only a warm treat, but trying to look after our environment too! 

Keep your eye out, we will have a special lunch for the last Thursday of term – menu will be up on Qkr! next week.  The ever popular Juice Bombs will also be available for sale in the Canteen Marketplace from next week – it might be a special treat your family could enjoy in the school holidays.

Thanks for your on-going support of our school canteen.

The Attitude of Gratitude

It can be easy to spend a lot of time worrying about the various stressors in our lives. We worry about our families, our health, world events, what we need to achieve tomorrow, how we look and much more. Young people also have a myriad of worries related to school, friends, appearance, and the future, and teaching them to actively practise gratitude can improve their stress levels and allow them to enjoy the here and now. Having an “attitude of gratitude” is something both adults and young people can benefit from.

Why is gratitude important?

When we feel gratitude, we focus on being thankful for the good things we have in our lives. Practising gratitude is a great way to improve our mood and to destress.

Practising gratitude helps us to:

• Feel positive emotions
• Deal with adversity and build our resilience
• Build strong relationships
• Enjoy good experiences
• Re-gain control in our lives

It is important to remember that just because a young person has a lot to be grateful for doesn’t mean they are not allowed to feel sad or worried. If we don’t give young people space to talk about their negative feelings they will not learn to express themselves and can bottle up their emotions. Practising gratitude is important to build into an everyday routine and is also useful when reflecting after a young person has expressed their worries and concerns.

Ways to Practice Gratitude at Home

Journaling/gratitude jar – encourage your young person to write down something they are grateful for each day in a ‘gratitude journal’. You could also have a ‘gratitude jar’ where they can write on a small piece of paper one thing they are grateful for. At the end of the week, you could empty the jar together and reflect on the things you are thankful for.

Appreciate the little things – ditch the idea that you or your young person are going to be grateful for absolutely everything in life. Don’t criticise yourself for not being grateful all the time for everything you have. Sometimes, it’s the littlest things that lift our spirit. A simple feeling of gratitude for a pet or for a favourite home cooked meal can make the world of difference.

Positive role modelling – it may not always seem like it, but young people learn from the actions and reactions of adults. If you are practising gratitude, chances are your young person will follow along (whether they admit it or not!).

Play the Gratitude Game – name: one person you are thankful for, one place you are thankful for, one food you are thankful for, one thing you are thankful for. This can be during dinner, a car ride, a walk, or when you are just relaxing at home. This is a great way for all the family to practise gratitude.

Resources

For further gratitude prompts, look at this image https://headspace.org.au/assets/gcattachments/149570c7169b2df39c6548052a8253e3.jpeg

The Black Dog Institute have developed the ‘Thank Tank’ https://www.biteback.org.au/ThankTank, a space for teens to document what they are grateful for. They also get a chance to see what others are grateful for which can provide inspiration.

Ryoko Koyasu - School Counsellor

Are you a family that loves to ski or snowboard? Registrations are now open for any student who would like to participate in the ACT/Southern NSW Inter-schools snow sports competition. This year, St Monica's is registering a team and there is room for more participants!! If you are interested in participating or finding out more information about the interschools simply click on the link below or send Mrs Harris an email. lisa.harris@cg.catholic.edu.au

Interschools Snowsports 2022

Sacrament of First Eucharist 

This will be celebrated on the weekend of 18 and 19 June 2022 (Corpus Christi Sunday) across the four Parish Sunday Masses.

Home Booklets

Families should have now completed the home booklet (with the last page, the ‘Parents’ Discernment of Readiness’ completed) and handed them back to the school for Fr Loi to sign.

The home booklets will be returned to the candidates at the celebration of the Sacrament.

Confirmation (for year 6 students) will be celebrated in Term 3, 2022.

Registrations will open on 27 June 2022.

Reconciliation (for year 3 students) will be celebrated in Term 4, 2022.

Registrations will open on 19 September 2022.

For further Information regarding the Sacramental Program – please contact the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au or check the parish website for updates at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth

Coerver Coaching ACT Holiday Camps July 2022

- 12 hours of programmed Coerver ® Coaching sessions delivered by Coerver® Diploma accredited coaches

- Coerver® Coaching training Shirt, - adidas training football, Coerver® Coaching Home Study Program

- Coerver® Coaching Home Study Program Online Support, Coerver ® Coaching certificate of attendance

Dates: Monday 11 July – Thursday 14 July

Times: 9:00am - 12:00pm each day

Venue: Northside – University of Canberra, Bruce. Southside – Trinity Christian School, Wanniassa.

Registration Link: https://coerveract.com.au/holiday-camps